Oyo good for market: KJ Alphons

He spoke shortly after concerns were raised by hoteliers and hotel bodies against Softbank-backed Oyo and its practices, and a little over a week after the tourism ministry came out with its own set of voluntary guidelines for OTAs and bed-and-breakfast establishments.

NEW DELHI: Oyo’s upgradation of mid-market rooms in the country and bringing them into the organised segment is good news for tourism but issues need be resolved directly between the hotel bodies and the unicorn flush with funds regarding matters like contracts and room rates, tourism minister KJ Alphons told ET.

He spoke shortly after concerns were raised by hoteliers and hotel bodies against Softbank-backed Oyo and its practices, and a little over a week after the tourism ministry came out with its own set of voluntary guidelines for OTAs and bed-and-breakfast establishments.

“India has a shortage of two lakh rooms in the mid-market segment and if Oyo is bringing the inventory of midmarket hotels into the organised segment through some upgradation, it is good news. There are no quality rooms in the mid-market segment. But the hotel associations and Oyo need to resolve their issues directly,” Alphons said.

The tourism ministry came out with its own set of voluntary guidelines for OTAs and bed-and-breakfast establishments and home-stay options on December 7. The ministry had said the guidelines have been devised to ensure that there are adequate safeguards against deficiency of service.

“This is a voluntary scheme open to bonafide online travel aggregators to bring them on a common platform in the organised sector and the guidelines will be rolled out online by the end of December 2018,” the ministry had said in a statement.

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